Joe Douglas has been talking about building the Jets’ offensive line since the day he took over as the team’s general manager in 2019…literally.
These are the words Douglas said at his inaugural press conference in June of the same year. “This is a game of will. And we’re going to try to build a team that can impose their will on other teams, and to do that we have to be strong up front, not just on the offensive line but on the defensive line. It won’t.”
But here in 2024, Douglas still needs to build an offensive line that will require a major rebuild this offseason.
Douglas will need to find three starters after releasing veteran guard Laken Tomlinson last week.
Mekhi Becton and Duane Brown are free agents and are not expected to return.
The Jets will need to add either two guards or two tackles depending on where the team plays Ariya Berra-Tucker through free agency and the draft.
“It’s a lot of pieces,” Douglas said this week at the NFL Scouting Combine. “At the same time, we had an unbelievable meeting with the coaching staff, a free agent meeting. There are three different ways to do this: trade, free agency, draft. So, where we are now. Having experienced the location, the flexibility, the meeting we just had, the flexibility of AVT, we feel like we might have the type of person coming in who would be a good fit for us in terms of intelligence and toughness, reliability.
“We have some good candidates who can help us.”
The offensive line prospects for the 2024 draft will be unveiled Sunday during combine drills in Indianapolis.
Jets coach Robert Saleh will join Douglas on Saturday to watch the linemen practice.
The Jets are expected to take one of their top three tackles at No. 10 overall.
Notre Dame’s Joe Alt, Penn State’s Olu Fashanu and Oregon State’s Tagliese Fuaga are all considered potential top-10 picks by draft experts.
All were asked about playing with quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Saturday and expressed excitement about the possibility.
The good news for the Jets is that there are a lot of strong offensive line candidates in this draft.
NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has seven offensive linemen in his top 20.
“This is a loaded tackle class,” Jeremiah said last week. “As far as the top group, there’s 10 or 11 players that are really interesting. I think we’re going to see a lot of opening-day starters emerge from that tackle group.”
Before entering the draft, the Jets will likely look for answers in free agency.
The tackle class isn’t very strong, but there are some good guards.
Kevin Dotson of the Rams and Robert Hunt of the Dolphins should both receive big contracts.
Patriots lineman Mike Onwenu has the flexibility to play both guard and tackle, which could earn him big money.
Douglas has been down this road before. He remade the offensive line in 2020. He was clearly looking for value then.
Jets fans were disappointed because he didn’t sign top tackle Jack Conklin.
Instead, he went bargain hunting and signed center Connor McGovern, tackle George Fant and guard Greg Van Roten.
He drafted Becton a month later to play left tackle.
McGovern and Fant gave the Jets some good moments.
Van Roten was fired after two seasons.
Becton is disappointed and plans to join another team in free agency.
The Jets are one of many teams looking to improve their offensive line, so the price could rise quickly.
The Raiders, Dolphins, Titans, and Ravens all have big needs.
Douglas cited the flexibility given to him by Vera Tucker as a key this week.
Considering the Jets can acquire two guards in free agency, they could get Vera-Tucker to play tackle.
If it becomes a tackle and a guard, you can have him guard.
“I think we’re in a really good position, especially because of the flexibility that AVT provides,” Douglas said. “Nothing is set in stone exactly where he will line up. But his ability to play four different spots and four different spots well gives us a lot of flexibility going forward. [with] Our roster building, our O-line building. But one of the things we’re going to do this year is we’re not going to move the AVT.
“We’re going to reserve a spot for him and keep him there for the rest of the season.”
